This one is from my own sweet mom, who is mother to 9 of us. To save on bathroom storage space ~ which, let me tell you, was at a premium with 9 kids! ~ she gave us each a simple, inexpensive, plastic tool-type caddy to keep our own personal bathroom necessities (toothbrush, comb, brush, etc. ) in. They were stored on a shelf in our bedroom closets, to be carried in and then back again, as we needed them. This helped a lot to keep our bathrooms uncluttered and organized. Mom also bought one of this type of plastic baskets for each kid to catch of our dirty laundry. She wrote our names on each of them. The plastic made it easy to keep clean and the holes kept our dirty clothes somewhat aerated . . . which really helped with our brothers' stinky things (LOL). The handles made them easy to carry back and forth to our laundry room. Lynn

Toys: I have about 15 clear plastic bins with handles filled with toys for visiting grandkids -- small blocks, cars, old Fisher-Price, etc., all stacked in a hall closet. The general rule is "one box out of the closet at a time," although on occasion we've combined boxes for different kinds of play. It was quite an effort to teach the concept of "we must pick this box up before getting another one out" -- a 30 minute tearful standoff with a two year old comes to mind -- but now it's second nature. I know this can't be done this strictly with toddlers at home, but for a grandma's house, it works great! Cooking: When I start to cook or bake something, I fill one side of the sink with very hot, soapy water, and open the dishwasher. Every utensil, bowl, etc. goes immediately either into the sink or the dishwasher. When I'm finished cooking, clean-up is a breeze: Shut the dishwasher, swipe or rinse off the soaked dishes in the sink, wipe up the counter, and the kitchen is basically clean. Kitchen organization: I know this goes against the rule here of "Less is more" but I have multiples of quite a few kitchen things. Example: The cupboard next to the fridge is Sandwich/Snack Central. I keep specific glasses and mugs there, paper plates, and a specific, inexpensive, set of flatware. No running around the kitchen when fixing a sandwich, drink, or snack because everything is at hand. Adds just a bit of complexity to the sorting step of emptying the dishwasher but it sure simplified life. Because I run the dishwasher only every 3 days, I have multiple spatulas, measuring spoons, and a few other things I use constantly. For me, sometimes "more is easier."

I started back in 97 when my dd was born- today she turns 9! I did her baby book and it was ok. Then I discovered Creative Memories and all the stuff out there. I redid her pages- thanks to double prints- and it is much nicer. I used to use a 3-ring binder and page protectors from office supply store. I used solid paper as my page. I used some stickers and a little journalling. I have since taken all those pages and put them into CM albums. Now I use the regular white pages and use the colored paper for frames or accent strips. To organize and make things go faster I use an easy method. I have a binder with sleeves in it. When I develop film I separate in dated or event order. Then I divide by what pics would fit on a page. I drop those pics into sleeves. Then I take paper that matches the pics and drop it in the sleeve. I may put some stickers in there too. Then when I go to scrap, I just grab a sleeve and work that page. I have already picked out the stuff for the page, just need to assemble. Unfortunatly, I have a digital camera now. It was so easy to develop film and then sort out the pics. Now I have to download onto a CD, take to a place or use an online service. I have not done this yet, which explains why I have over 600 pics to print, and at least half I need doubles of- one for my dd and one for my ds albums. One nice thing about digital is that I can print only what I need, so I may print all my dd birthday pics for her album, but only print a few for my son to have in his. Hey soggy6- aren't you the one with the pool that had plaster then switched to ptec after a crack or something? Are you going to, or do you know about, the event at Newburg Hall down by Sac State on 4/29? My CM gal and her friends are having an all-day event. After spending last year doing the build, it will be nice to spend a day scrapping. I am taking all our vacation pics- the ones before we had kids- and getting them all into albums. Won't be super fancy like my kids books. The goal is to have them in an album instead of not.

I had been glancing through the pics in the Gallery and thought, "Hmm, maybe it is time for me to start sewing again." I had my machine out yesterday to do some mending and was recalling all of the outfits I'd made for my friend's daughter (who is now 11) when she was 5-years old. I did the same, DeeÂmade dresses and other outfits with matching bag/purse and hair adornments (some were scrunchies and some were hair pins, some were bows attached to elastic bandsÂI did a variety of things). I would put the entire thing into the bag and mail them off to Cin (although she lives, oh three miles away). She'd be ecstatic to get these little packages. I'd made at least 30 of these little giftsÂmom didn't have to buy her any clothes when she went off to Kindergarten that year Now that I see these darling pillowcase dresses, I am starting to get the itchÂ